For most of us, our love affair with the movies extends beyond individual titles to include genres: Westerns; horror films; science fiction; film noir. In this course, we will explore the idea of the motion picture genre. Through selected film screenings, readings, and discussion, we will attempt to understand genre as a way to organize and understand movies, as well as the culture in which those movies are created. In addition to classic genres, we will focus on more recent films that blur the boundaries between genres (docu-fiction, “faux doc,” mockumentary) and point toward the evolution of genre as a fundamental principle of film studies.
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